Allow us to introduce Mariam Nabatanzi. Exactly how old she is is a mystery, even to herself. One thing is certain though: she has given birth to more children than years she has lived. As local authorities have confirmed, this woman from Kampala, Uganda has had a total of 44 children, 38 of which have survived.
Discover our latest podcast
How has she had so many children?
Mariam is also known as ‘the twin mother who gives birth to quadruplets’. Her oldest child is now 24 and the youngest is little over a year old. The children were all born to the same father and the parents are still together.
There are only ten girls among the 38 children and the rest of her offspring are boys. That means that there are enough boys alone to form two football teams and even have two substitute players in case anything happens.
Mariam usually falls pregnant with multiple births and over the years she has given birth to six sets of twins, four sets of triplets and three sets of quadruplets. She suffers from a genetic abnormality in which her body produces more eggs than other women. In order to stop her from having any more children, she has now had an operation to block her fallopian tubes, which means the one-year-old is definitely her last child.
A huge family
Marian was married to a 40-year-old man when she was just twelve years old and her first children soon followed. She opened up to the German news source Stern about the domestic violence she has experienced and also about how difficult it has been for her to feed so many children. She sells medicinal herbs and makes braids to feed her children since her husband’s salary alone is not enough to support the many children they have.
When the 38-time mother thinks of the future, she hopes that all of her children will be able to go to school and get a good education because she wants them to have a better life than she herself has had. What an impressive woman!
